It can be hard being old sometimes. For one, you cannot move like a young buck anymore. Sometimes you have to carefully choose what you eat, so that it will not cause your problems in your body. Of course, these two “limitations” almost always go hand-in-hand, particularly in a medical condition like gout.

For the young ones who may not be familiar with this condition, gout is a heterogenous group of conditions related to a defect of urine metabolism that results in hyperuricemia.

“Oversecretion” of uric acid or a renal defect resulting in a decreased exceretion of uric acid, or a combination of both, occurs.

The prevalence of gout is reported to be less than 1% to 13.5%, and it also appears to be on the rise.

The incidence increases with age and body mass index. It also occurs more commonly in males than in females.

While there is, of course, a way of treating your gout, it can prove to be so expensive to some.

However, if you are looking for a more “cost-competitive” way of controlling your gout, then you should consider diet modification as being a prime option for avoiding the joint pains that are commonly associated with gout. It’s not that you cannot eat everything; only that you have to be aware of some food that are high in purine levels, which can wreak havoc on your uric acid levels if you eat any of these food listed below.

The most common “culprit” on this list is meat—organ meats and sweetbreads, in particular. Organ meats like the animal liver or heart are well-known for boasting some pretty high levels of purine.

However, your meaty diet should not be limited on these alone: beef and pork should be equally avoided, and “meats” that are highly processed, like bacon and beef jerky, are all high in purine levels. So, does that mean that you’ll have to go straight-edge all the way? Not exactly; you still can eat meat, but you have to only limit it to “white” meats like chicken and ham… and don’t forget that you can only eat some of it, and not the whole “animal”, for Pete’s sake!

And while we’re on the “issue” of meat here, you also have to remember that your daily consumption of seafood should be highly regulated, as well. It’s really easy figuring out what kind of fishes to avoid; as long as it’s in a can, just “ran” (we know, we know, we just wrote the sentence for the sake of having the two last words rhyme with each other).

Some “suspect” seafood that you need to be wary of are sardines, trout, tuna, anchovies, herring, and salmon. You can’t also eat any “fancy” seafood dinners like shrimp and lobster; otherwise, prepare for a day of suffering if you include any of these grub in your daily meals.

Finally, these are also some of the food that you need to keep away from if you don’t want your gout acting up:

legumes like lima beans and peanuts;

vegetables like asparagus, cauliflower, and spinach;

any beverage containing caffeine; and

yeast products like bread and (Homer would get really angry with this) beer.

If you want more information with regards to gout and any of its related treatments, please give a holler to your local physician.